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Boris Johnson has reassured the public there is "no change to the next step in the roadmap" to bring the Uk out of coronavirus lockdown.
The Prime Minister addressed the nation in a Downing Street press conference at 5pm on Thursday afternoon, just a day after the last conference hosted by Matt Hancock.
Earlier in the day the Health Secretary said second doses of the vaccine will go ahead as planned despite supply troubles meaning fewer doses will be received in April.
The government has vowed it is still on target to get all adults their first dose by July despite a "lumpy" supply in the coming weeks.
Mr Johnson, appearing alongside Prof Chris Whitty and Dr June Raine, also took the opportunity to reassure Brits that the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine is "safe and effective".
"The Oxford jab is safe and the Pfizer jab is safe, the thing that is't safe is catching Covid," Mr Johnson said, adding he'll receive his vaccine tomorrow.
A wave of EU member states suspended their AstraZeneca programmes this week following reports of blood clots developing in recently-vaccinated people.
A number of health groups including the World Health Organisation attempted to restore public confidence in the safety of the jab, which has been given to millions of Brits.
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Earlier today the European Medicines Agency (EMA) ruled the AstraZeneca vaccine is "safe and effective" and is not associated with an increase in the overall risk of thromboembolic events or blood clots.
However the EMA stopped short of ruling out a causative link between the jab and the reported blood clots.
The head of the Oxford University vaccine group, Professor Andrew Pollard, said that while it was right that regulators investigated reports of blood clots in people who have had the vaccine, data from millions of people was "very reassuring" that there was no link.
Prof Pollard said "safety is clearly absolutely paramount" but that about 3,000 cases of blood clots occur every month in the UK from other causes.
"So, when you then put a vaccination campaign on top of that, clearly those blood clots still happen and you've got to then try and separate out whether, when they occur, they are at all related to the vaccine or not," he told BBC Radio 4's Today programme this week.
Prof Pollard said that more than 11 million doses have now been given in the UK, and the MHRA has said "very clearly that they're not seeing any increase in the number of cases of blood clots" over what they would see normally.
- Boris Johnson
- Coronavirus
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